Arnon Grünberg

The Dutch bestselling author presents his new book Occupied Territories - a novel with insane twists and hilarious scenes that caused storms of enthusiasm in the Netherlands.

The story centres on the "inhumanly good" psychiatrist Otto Kadoke, who loses his licence to practise psychiatry in Amsterdam because of a love affair gone wrong and false accusations. Faced with nothing, he decides to accept the invitation of his relative Anat, a fanatical Zionist, to the West Bank. When the convinced atheist and anti-Zionist arrives there, he has to pretend to be Anat's fiancé for etiquette's sake at first, but then seriously falls in love with her. However, she only agrees to marry him if they have a godly marriage - that is, with many children - to populate the Holy Land and make up for the Holocaust. Many trials await Kadoke. The tragicomic love story of the anti-hero Kadoke interweaves unsparing social criticism, historical analysis and the examination of deeply human, existential questions.

Arnon Grunberg, born 1971 in Amsterdam, lives and works in New York. His books have been awarded all the major Dutch literary prizes, and in 2002 he received the NRW Literature Prize for his complete works. In addition to his literary works, Arnon Grunberg writes for international newspapers and magazines. His work is published in 27 languages.